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Two Quiet Bantamweights in Takeya Mizugaki and Francisco Rivera Will Look to Put on a Show at UFC 173

May 19th, 2014 at 10:14 PM By Steven J Cavagnino

With UFC 173 is quietly approaching, two bantamweights will look to compete for the audience’s attention on a card whose top 3 fights are main event caliber. With fighters like Robbie Lawler, Daniel Cormier, and Renan Barao on the card, it will be quite the feat to win a performance bonus.

Francisco Rivera and Takeya Mizugaki are two bantamweights who find themselves on the main card of a huge Pay Per View event. At first glance there is not much star power behind these two fighter’s names, however, this is a fight between two top ten fighters. Both Francisco Rivera and Takeya Mizugaki have built some impressive win streaks within their division. Rivera hasn’t lost since dropping his first fight at bantamweight and Mizugaki is riding a 4 fight win streak. Though neither man has beaten any huge talent in the division, this is the fight for either of them to start to make a household name for themselves.

Mizugaki is one of the most experienced bantamweights in the world, an excellent boxer with a superb hook to the body, Mizugaki has been up and down in his career, never winning more than 1 fight at a time from 2009 to 2012. Since he defeated Jeff Hougland late in 2012, however, Mizugaki has been on a tear.

Francisco Rivera is another fighter who has flown under the radar for quite some time. Making his Zuffa debut under the WEC banner as a featherweight, Rivera soon dropped down to bantamweight and lost his debut. However, something soon clicked with Rivera and he hasn’t lost since then, a streak spanning 3 years. Both fighter’s are exciting, stand up oriented fighters who look to knock their opponent out via punches and kicks.

Despite being overshadowed by such big names at the top of the card, both Rivera and Mizugaki are two game fighters who will, without a doubt, entertain the fans with a slugfest of a fight.